Stonewall announce 2011 award winners

Publish Date: 04/11/2011

The Awards, celebrate those who have made a positive impact on the lives of lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Britain in the last 12 months.

Hero of the Year went to Roger Crouch who has campaigned to raise awareness of homophobic bullying in schools, after his son Dominic, 15, took his own life in 2010 after rumours circulated at school that he was gay.

Roger said: ‘I see this as an award for Dom. I want to say by choosing us for this award you’ve also chosen to take a stand alongside all the young people whose lives have been ended by bullying. We are parents who loved our son. We stood by him in life and we stand by him in death.’

Special Entertainer Award - Cosmo the Jack Russell (Beginners). Cosmo stole the show as well as viewers’ hearts in his role as Arthur in the hit movie Beginners. He won a Stonewall Award as the most gay-friendly dog in cinema history.

Bigot of the Year - Melanie Phillips. Chosen by thousands of Stonewall supporters. Long infamous for her views on just about everything from the NHS to Barack Obama to gay rights, this year Phillips outdid herself by comparing gay people to animals.

The Hero, Bigot and Community Group of the Year Awards were voted for by thousands of Stonewall supporters across Britain.

All other categories were chosen by a judging panel including England women’s national football team coach, Hope Powell, John Partridge, Gok Wan, TV producer Maureen Chadwick and Eddie Mair.

Ben Summerskill, Stonewall Chief Executive, said: ‘The Stonewall Awards celebrate those who have made a positive impact on gay people’s lives, and also provide a platform to showcase inspirational lesbian, gay and bisexual role models. Those role models make a massive difference to the quality of many young gay people’s lives.’